What rpm do you shift at?

gixer02 · 01-31-2002, 11:56 AM

My n/a is just a daily driver. I always shift around 4000. I know in the manual the power band is until 5000 where the HP drops off. Am I being a wimp about it? I would just hate to break something but how high can you go with out driving "hard" When do you guys shift?

Pat

Bob's944 · Bob's944's Garage

Redline when I'm getting on it... 6500rpm. Belts and waterpump are fresh so I'm very confident with it. 4th gear up over 6,000 rpm is SWEET. I regularly go over 5,000 rpm driving around town, engine loves me for it, it's very happy.

Obin Robinson · 01-31-2002, 12:15 PM

i shift around 6,000 or so.

old belts, old pump

living life on the edge.

obin

yOnKiNaToR · 01-31-2002, 12:20 PM

usually between 3,000 and 3,500. when i'm getting on it i shift between 4,500 and 5,500 and when i'm really racing, i redline.

Nabeel · 01-31-2002, 12:37 PM

3000 RPM or less until the engine is fully warmed up. When its at normal operating temperature, I usually shift at around 4500 RPM when cruising around town, and at redline when I'm feeling aggresive, which is usually several times a day

gixer02 · 01-31-2002, 12:39 PM

really! ok.. The highest ever got to was 5000 believe it or not. That's in a year of having it. I rarely go over 4... gonna change that. Well I gotta get out and go for a drive now

thanks guys

Pat

Magnus_944 · 01-31-2002, 02:05 PM

Going around town, I shift at 2500-3500 rpm. If I am in "race mode", and the engine is warm, I take it to 6000-6500 rpm

//Magnus

justin · justin's Garage

6k everytime I shift............

ae1969 · 01-31-2002, 08:48 PM

2,500 - 3,500 everyday driving

4,000-5,500 when I want to get my ass home

6,000 uhmmmm when the stereo is blasting......

JGriff · JGriff's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by ae1969

6,000 uhmmmm when the stereo is blasting......

I would think that the "music" that the car makes, especially at that rpm, would be all that you need!!

I often prefer to turn the radio down… or off altogether… just to listen to "Porsche music"!!

Although, I'll admit... cranking AC/DC (yes, I'm an "old timer") definitely forces me to push down harder on the go pedal...

To answer the original question... usually somewhere between 4000 and 5000 rpm. That range just about covers the max hp and max torque for my car.

Jim

overkill · 02-01-2002, 05:42 AM

DAMN ! ! ! !

944S Boyeee · 02-01-2002, 06:32 AM

Ok - I had asked this question in the past. I was wondering if all the engine problems (rod bearing, etc) could be due to all you shift freaks shifting so high (lol).

Is it very safe to redline these cars? Just curious - are they "better off" if we shift em' high? I've had my S for only a year and I just can't push it that hard, or is shifting at 5000 really pushing the car that hard???? I know the S has 16 valves and that should allow for higher shifting (or am I wrong?) - but when does the Horsepower drop off? I think it around 5000 RPM's, no??

Does only shifting around 3000 RPM "hurt" the car???

Bob's944 · Bob's944's Garage

Porsche recommends shifting at redline for maximum accelleration. Doesn't matter where the peak hp is located at, it's how the engine moves thru it's rev range. The higher you get the speed in each gear, the higher the rpm is when you enter the next gear, so you keep the average HP the engine is putting out higher than someone who is shifting at a lower rpm.... which makes his car look slow and makes yer car look fast, when they are really the same... just that one guy drove the car better.

I saw a car program the other day where they were in identical new ram air Firebirds, one guy 250# or so, the other guy like 150#, i thought for sure the big guy was gonna lose. Then they showed the in car camera, the big guy was working the engine hard and shifting very well, where the lil guy was lookin kinda wimpy... and was gettin his doors BLOWN off. They switched cars with the same results each time. I'll guarantee the big guy did some drag racing, shifted lightning fast like a pro, and ran it to redline in every gear. The lil guy was prolly shifting at like 5 grand or so, and didn't look like he was shifting as fluidly.

Here's the speed in gears chart for the 5 speed NA. You can see how shifting at 6500 at first, brings 2nd gear in at about 4,000 rpm... a nice spot on the HP curve and the torque is flat there. If you were to shift at say 5,000 rpm, you would enter 2nd gear at about 3,000 rpm, where the HP of the engine is still low. And so on.....

AFJuvat · 02-01-2002, 06:59 AM

Well that really depends. The bearings will suffer from oil starvation at 6500 (even though maximum theoretical rpm on these engines is really closer to 7800). On the other hand, the engine runs much better at higher RPM than most engines.

5000 is not really pushing the car hard under most circumstances. However, I wouldn't really recommend it in city traffic.

I shift mine anywhere from 3500 - 6000 depending on what I am doing. Every now and then taking it up to 6500 "just to blow the carbon out"

AFJuvat

adrial · adrial's Garage

There's a program called cartest that shows the power curve in each gear. (How much power is being put to the ground in each gear.) Basically, in the lower gears...shift at redline every time.
In the higher gears it leans toward shifting maybe 500rpm shy of redline...it varies for each car.

I have the cartest program up on my rennlist web page... I think the direct link is http://members.rennlist.com/adrial/cartest.exe

Enjoy!

P.S. If someone could figure out how to take screenshots of a dos program, that would be great.